The XXI century is called the era of consumption. Everything around us is connected with the purchase of goods. All of us are consumers. Marketers around the world look for new ways of getting deeper into our heads and understanding what else we need. Our whole life is connected with brands, and even a person who says that advertising does not influence him is mistaking.
Just look at a logo of a manufacturer of your monitor, a brand of your phone, a store that you always visit (you will say: “It’s just convenient for me”, and still you visit it owing to marketing) – all this has long penetrated into our houses, families, heads.
The importance of marketing is great in our time. It’s enough to say that every third employee in a large company is a marketer. Nevertheless, even though many people call marketing an “evil empire”, it is a useful sphere. If you study this specialty or just plan to enter a relevant training course, it will be interesting for you to learn several interesting facts about marketing and its impact on our life.
1. Modern marketing tries to get into the souls of customers
A new era in marketing has come, when classical tools are no longer effective and capable to distract a potential client from everyday affairs. Progressive advertising tools allow the companies to penetrate into our souls, to become our friends and to make consumption a part of our life.
You never buy a product just because you need it. You buy a solution, satisfaction of your needs. People do not buy Rolex in order to know the time – they buy the status. iPhone is not bought just because it’s stuffed with electronics – it attributes the owner to a high social level. You need a car not just because it’s useful, but because you want to brag in front of your friends, passers-by, other drivers.
2. Large supermarkets control our behavior in their halls
Did you think that music in the store is necessary only for your entertainment? You are wrong. Through the sound channel of perception, companies can control our mood and intentions. For example, fast food restaurants usually play pretty fast, active music, which prompts the client to quickly make an order and exit, because usually, queues are gathered in such institutions, and they are not designed for a long stay.
In large stores, where marketers want you to walk along the rows and choose one product after another, slow and quiet music plays, relieving tension from a psyche. This music is pleasant – when a person listens to it, he does not want to go anywhere.
3. Aroma marketing – managing your desires
Have you ever wondered why there are tasty smells of fresh bakery products, fried chicken, warm, pleasant and sweet aromas in the large hypermarkets, where the vast majority of goods are packed?
There are a large number of companies that specialize on the release of such flavors, which are then used in supermarkets to arouse your appetite, especially in the evening, after a long working day, when you feel hungry. This makes you buy more goods than with a full stomach.
4. Merchandising, as a kind of marketing, is the science of how to correctly place the goods on the shelves
So, thanks to specialists in this field, you intuitively know where everything lies. For example, to buy goods of daily demand (bread, milk, water), you have to go through almost the entire store, where you will certainly choose something else.
For goods of impulsive demand, the purchase of which is usually done accidentally and unplanned, there is always a place near a cash register. You stand in line and read the labels of chewing gums, chocolate, and other trifles. In 80 cases out of 100, you buy something here.
Also, in order to go up (or down) to another floor, you will have to almost completely bypass the current floor facing tons of goods and advertising.
5. Efficiency conditions
In advertising, the technique of “efficiency conditions” is often used: a promoted product is surrounded by goods and objects which cause the positive emotions. For example, food and personal care products may be surrounded by images of children, flowers, sunlight and so on. It is believed that repeated demonstration of the brand in such an environment will invariably cause a positive attitude of a consumer to an advertised product.
6. Food stylists
Such professionals work on the appearance of food in advertising. For example, fried chicken undergoes the number of preparations. Firstly, food stylists pull the bird’s skin and fix it with the help of thread and needle. Then, the carcass is stuffed with moistened paper towels, which give the chicken a volume and emit “appetizing” steam during heating. After that, the chicken is roasted from the outside until the skin is ready (inside, the carcass remains moist). At the end of the process, the bird is covered with a golden brown paint.
7. Exposure effect
Studies show that the repeated use of a subtle stimulus creates an “exposure effect” that enhances the positive perception of the object. For example, despite the fact that most people do not click on banners, advertising still forms a positive attitude to the promoted product. In addition, even after twenty appearances of the banner, “wear-out effect” does not arise.
Prospects for the profession of a marketer
The list of interesting facts can be continued indefinitely. It is true that marketing is around us. It has long penetrated into our heads and has taken a strong position there, climbed into the hearts of people and makes them worry about the goods. And this is only the beginning. Nevertheless, marketing makes humanity develop. Thanks to it, new technologies, inventions, products and solutions of all our desires and needs arise.
Therefore, if you study marketing, rest assured that this specialty will be in demand in the near and distant future. Treat the educational process responsibly, strive for self-improvement, and you will easily master it. It is better to proceed to practice as soon as possible. Do not be afraid to combine study with work. Good luck!